The Coalsack Nebula (Southern Coalsack, or simply ''the'' Coalsack) is a

dark nebula A dark nebula or absorption nebula is a type of interstellar cloud, particularly molecular clouds, that is so dense that it obscures the visible wavelengths of light from objects behind it, such as background stars and emission or reflection ...

, which is visible to the

naked eye Naked eye, also called bare eye or unaided eye, is the practice of engaging in visual perception unaided by a magnification, magnifying, Optical telescope#Light-gathering power, light-collecting optical instrument, such as a telescope or microsc ...

as a dark patch obscuring part of the

Milky Way The Milky Way or Milky Way Galaxy is the galaxy that includes the Solar System, with the name describing the #Appearance, galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars in other arms of the galax ...

east of Acrux (Alpha Crucis) in the constellation of

Crux CRUX is a lightweight x86-64 Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users and delivered by a tar.gz-based package system with BSD-style initscripts. It is not based on any other Linux distribution. It also utilizes a ports system ...

General information

Historically any other dark cloud in the

night sky The night sky is the nighttime appearance of celestial objects like stars, planets, and the Moon, which are visible in a clear sky between sunset and sunrise, when the Sun is below the horizon. Natural light sources in a night sky include moonlig ...

was called coalsack. The Coalsack Nebula was juxtaposed in 1899 by Richard Hinckley Allen through naming the Northern Coalsack Nebula. The Coalsack Nebula covers nearly 7 ° by 5° and extends into the neighboring constellations

Centaurus Centaurus () is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the 88 modern constellations by area, largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one ...

and Musca. The first observation was reported by Vicente Yáñez Pinzón in 1499. It was named "''il Canopo fosco''" (the dark

Canopus Canopus is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Carina (constellation), Carina and the list of brightest stars, second-brightest star in the night sky. It is also Bayer designation, designated α Carinae, which is Rom ...

) by

Amerigo Vespucci Amerigo Vespucci ( , ; 9 March 1454 – 22 February 1512) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Florence for whom "Naming of the Americas, America" is named. Vespucci participated in at least two voyages of the A ...

and was also called "''Macula Magellani''" (Magellan's Spot) or "''Black Magellanic Cloud''" in opposition to the Magellanic Clouds. In Australian Aboriginal astronomy, the Coalsack forms the head of the '' emu in the sky'' in several Aboriginal cultures. Amongst the Wardaman people, it is said to be the head and shoulders of a ''law-man'' watching the people to ensure they do not break traditional law. According to a legend reported by W. E. Harney, this being is called ''Utdjungon'' and only adherence to the tribal law by surviving tribe members could prevent him from destroying the world with a fiery star. There is also a reference by Gaiarbau (1880) regarding the coalsacks replicating bora rings on Earth. These astronomical sites allowed the spirits to continue ceremony similar to their human counterparts on Earth. As bora grounds are generally located on the compass points north–south, the southern coal sack indicates the ceremonial ring. In

Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

astronomy this nebula was called ''Yutu'', after a partridge-like South American bird, or

Tinamou Tinamous () are members of the order Tinamiformes (), and family Tinamidae (), divided into two distinct subfamily, subfamilies, containing 46 species found in Mexico, Central America, and South America. The word "tinamou" comes from the Carib la ...

In Popular Culture

The Coalsack Nebula appeared in

Kenji Miyazawa was a Japanese novelist, poet, and children's literature writer from Hanamaki, Iwate, in the late Taishō and early Shōwa periods. He was also known as an agricultural science teacher, vegetarian, cellist, devout Buddhist, and utopian social ...

's story Night on the Galactic Railroad, where the protagonist, Giovanni, experiences his friend, Campanella, departing to his personal afterlife referred to as "True Heaven" where he sees his dead mother waiting for him. Giovanni is unable to see True Heaven, and is represented, instead, as the empty, black Coalsack to Giovanni. The Coalsack Nebula and the galactic area surrounding it played a large role in

Jerry Pournelle Jerry Eugene Pournelle (; August 7, 1933 – September 8, 2017) was an American scientist in the area of operations research and ergonomics, human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. ...

's CoDominium Universe, particularly

The Mote in God's Eye ''The Mote in God's Eye'' is a science fiction novel by American writers Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, first published in 1974. The story is set in the distant future of Pournelle's CoDominium universe, and charts the first contact between ...

and the sequel The Gripping Hand, both co-authored with

Larry Niven Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His 1970 novel ''Ringworld'' won the Hugo Award for Best Novel, Hugo, Locus Award, Locus, Ditmar Award, Ditmar, and Nebula Award for Best Novel, Nebula award ...

. In these novels, a human-colonized system, New Caledonia, is on the opposite side of the Coalsack from Earth. Set against the Coalsack is a red supergiant, and between the supergiant and New Caledonia is a yellow F6 star, known as "The Mote in God's Eye".

References

External links

Starry Night Photography: Coalsack Dark Nebula

SIMBAD: Coalsack Nebula
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coalsack Nebula Crux Dark nebulae 099b